Five Senses
by LoadingScreen
Summary: Heroes should be independent, but after an injury makes this difficult for Danny Phantom he is forced into a partnership with the one girl determined to be a damsel in distress, even if she has to recreate her saviour from the ground up. They soon discover far bigger things that were holding him back. Shallow Sapphire, Danny/Paulina.
1. Chapter 1

AN: What proceeds is my first attempt at an actually postable fanfic. It's Shallow Sapphire, which is completely different from my usual Swagger Bishie shipping, but I'm just in love with this pairing at the moment and wanted to dive into a good, long fanfic to shake some of the cobwebs off my old love of this show. I'm hopefully looking to get some feedback- criticism is wholly welcome and begged for- and every comment is loved! I really hope the fact that this show ended a few years ago doesn't mean the fandom has gone dark.

Also, once this story is done with, I'm totally down for some advice on which pairing to take on next :).

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If Danny had needed to breathe, the thick summer air would have caked his throat with moisture. It was a relief to take to the sky and get the breeze running through his hair, to have all the heat-generating systems in his body shut down and empty him out. The humidity settled over his mouth and nose and he felt nothing but sympathy for the sleepless, sticky people below as he crossed over the rooftops of Amity Park. He could hear traffic murmering from the downtown roads, their headlights rippling as if they were deep underwater. A dark shape cut him from the air and as the breeze whipped past him he let out a yelp and snatched up his thermos. He snapped around the face his hunter as the night sky lit with rumbling. Ghost motorbikes sounded exactly like regular ones.

"Alright, Johnny, for the last time will you stay in the Ghost Zone?" He turned himself upright and darted back and forth, trying to pick Johnny's shadow out from the backdrop of darkness. He saw it bolt out the corner of his eye and swung around, thermos raised, only to see Johnny himself meet him in midair, still on his bike, with his hands up.

"Woah, woah! Easy tiger, I'm not looking for a fight. Shadow's just tense, that's all." Danny kept his distance. Something bothered him about the way the other ghost looked. Johnny appeared as smug and untrustworthy as always but his face had a long-term fear beneath it that he hadn't caused.

"Where's your girlfriend? You have another fight?"

Johnny looked offended, his soft voice lowering. "What, you think just because we're not joined at the hip I've screwed up? She's just stayin' at her mom's, but seeing as I'm not welcome back there anymore I figured I'd kill time where it's safer, dig?"

"Where it's safer? Have I been getting soft on you lately?" Danny cocked his head, trying to read Johnny's sense of dread.

"Even when you do win -which ain't exactly a sure thing, pipsqueak- all you do is stuff me in a damn thermos and send me home." He raised an eyebrow, then paused. His mocking expression fell to one of shock. "Dude, haven't you ever heard of Mistvir?"

"Who?"

Johnny leaned against the handlebars of his bike and fixed Danny with a patronizing expression. Danny puffed out his chest. "You know how Skulker's all about being 'the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter' and everything?" Johnny made midair quotes with gloved fingers, slumping his shoulders with his eyes rolling in deep sarcasm. "Well imagine him but, like, with a reason to be pissed off. I didn't stick around for the history lesson, but he's a ghost on a one-man ghost genocide."

"Why would he do that?" asked Danny, fully involved with Johnny's story. He crossed his legs in midair and leaned forward. A breeze was beginning to pick up. It pulled away the heat that had settled on their skin and rustled through their hair .

"Because he's a nutjob- how would I know? I'm just staying the Hell away. Tell you what-" Johnny started his bike back up and prepared to slip away. "If you let me hang out here for a couple days until this all blows over, I'll gladly turn myself in the next time we cross. How's that for a deal?"

Danny was about to rebuff the compromise but caught himself reconsidering. His gut instinct told him the other ghost was being sincere. It wasn't worth the added struggle in a night as hot as this one. "Fine, but you've got to behave. No looting, kidnapping or turning human girls into girlfriend mannequins."

"Deal." Johnny gave him a mocking salute before tearing off through the air, his shadow in close pursuit.

Danny felt very uncomfortable around Sam's parents. He, Sam and Tucker would laugh about the way they thought he was a 'bad influence' when they were on neutral ground, and Danny liked the feeling of being disapproved of by a girl's straight-edge parents. However, when he was forced into their company the glares just made him shy.

"Guys, I'm serious," Sam held a leaflet like a dishcloth, flapping it about with wide, unhappy gestures, "I'm not going to this getaway camp by myself- if they're going to indoctrinate me I'm not going down alone." Tucker tried to follow the brochure's typeface but it moved too fast. He snatched it out of the air and unfolded it.

"Purity rings and oaths of loyalty? Count me out. I don't even love my own parents that much. Danny?"

"No way," Danny glanced at it, scanning down the cute characters and Bible verses. He could practically smell the coffee mornings. "As much as I'd like to spend a fortnight with your parents at some bizzare cult, I've got to stay here. This town wouldn't last five seconds without Inviso-Bill. Oh hey," he grinned at Tucker and pointed to a watercolour painting of a young man, "Sure was nice of them to include one black guy."

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Right?" After a few seconds he sighed and handed the leaflet back to Sam. "Fine. But you owe me something huge. I don't know what that something is yet, but I'll let you know when I think of it." Sam looked incredibly relieved.

"Thanks, Tuck. You can consider it my next three Christmas gifts."

"That depends. Do I have to get baptised?"

Danny watched them barter, leaning back on the tablecloth they'd spread on the grass. Tucker had been going through a weird baking phase that none of them quite understood and the shattered remains of his projects were laid bare to the sunlight in tupperware containers. They'd had to take the brownies, muffins and shortbread to the park- you couldn't take baked goods anywhere near the Fenton homestead when Jack was home. Sam's voice brought his attention snapping back. "It's not like it matters anyway- so you get wet; it's not like you'll be enchanted by the mystical powers of Holy Water." She stretched out with relief on the blanket. They were all feeling sick from the sugar but she took another brownie anyway. "So what's with all the freaked-out ghosts recently? I've never seen anything like it before." Danny winced as he watched her eat. The food was good- Tucker was by no means a bad baker- but enough was enough.

"Some scary ghost is causing trouble in the Ghost Zone, I don't know." His hand reached out by itself and picked up a vanilla muffin. He unwrapped it. "It's pretty spooky and everyone seems tense, but so what? We've seen this stuff before."

Sam crumpled up a wrapper and tossed it at him. It curved lazily in the air. "If something's going down you need to know about it. Especially if Tucker and I are stuck in Missouri learning about abstinence." Danny winced again.

"That is so gross. And don't worry about it- I'm on the case. I just want a couple of hours of peace and quiet, with no ghosts and no thinking about ghosts."

"Fair enough," Tucker said as he pushed a container away from his head. The grass was cooler than the tablecloth and he slithered over to it. "Hey, you wanna take any of these home?"

Paulina's squeal yanked Danny across Amity Park's skyline. It was another night where the cars bled heatwaves, where the total absence of any wind made the darkness stagnant and tinny, and he had just begun to be thankful for how silent the evening had been. He forced some wind to comb through his hair as he cut through the sky. He followed the cry of distress to one of the more affluent areas of town. Here the stores were made of red brick and lattice windows, which looked particularly delicate when they were smashed along the sidewalk. He saw her backed into a wall, shrill and terrified as the scariest man Danny had ever seen loomed over her.

He was a ghost. His hair was wild and he wore furs and leather around a massive body that bulged with strength and adrenaline. He glowed with a green aura and the skin of his hands and upper face- the only places where his body touched the outer world- was white. The moment Danny landed the man abandoned Paulina and rounded upon him, drawing up to full, towering height. It was as if he were looking into the eyes of a scorpion. There was no humanity in them, not even a glimmer of recognition. Danny didn't even have time to throw out a line of banter before the ghost had drawn out a sword. In such big hands it looked like a knife, and the intimacy of such a short weapon only made it seem crueler. "Uh, miss?" He kept eye contact with the hateful shade and began to tread backwards, like he was backing away from a bear. "You might want to hide."

Paulina had slid to the floor. She watched the Ghost Boy back away and picked herself up, dusting shards of brick from her calves. Footstep by footstep she edged along the building, staring at the two ghosts. Every move she made was slow and careful as scenes from Jurassic Park cropped up in her memory. This ghost was no reptile. She gave him time to act. He raised his massive arm with an inhuman roar and sliced his sword towards Danny. Danny leapt back, sucking in his stomach and only just managing to avoid being messily eviscerated.

"Holy-!" He looked up in betrayal, not used to things getting so serious so fast. The gigantic man looked grim and uninterested. He swiped again and Danny's feet left the ground. He didn't dare put too much of a distance between them in case this monster rounded again on Paulina. Energy swept down his spine and out to his dead nerve endings as he summoned a blast of energy. A flash of green light erupted from his fists and smacked into the ghost's chest. "Ha!" The blast did nothing. The man's clothing hadn't even been singed.

That was okay, Danny reasoned. That happened a lot. Some ghosts just had more armor than a skinny teenage boy in spandex. He had no time to think up another ideas, though, before the now irritated Norseman stabbed forward. Swerving far enough to avoid the blow sent Danny off balance and he was unable to find neutral ground in midair. He had no time to right himself, every second was spent trying to avoid the next blow. He twisted and flipped, scampering back as tiny chunks of hair and fabric was stripped from him. "Wait, hang on! Will you stop for just one second?!" he yelled. The ghost looked at him. His blade erupted in flames. "Seriously?!"

The ghost's voice was so low it sent vibrations through his gut. "I have no time for whelps."

"I could say exactly the same thing." He grasped the thermos strapped to his waist and pointed it towards him. He blinked and the force of a car crash rocketed up his shoulders. When he looked down there was no thermos in his hand. It landed with a clunk next to Paulina's feet. He wanted to scream at her to run but that would only remind this guy that she was there. They made eye contact across the battlefield, the titan standing between them, and he made a pleading look for her to flee down the street. The ghost followed his gaze and Danny let out a gasp of fear. He snapped forward, cutting through the air as the ghost strode forward with his blazing sword held high. Paulina's shrill scream sliced through his head again and he followed it like a wire strung through his ear canals. He reached her first and grabbed her shoulders. It would only take him a moment to turn intangible but as a black shadow fell across him he saw the blow meant for Paulina. Something hot and sharp hit his face. The pain was so sudden, so severe that all thoughts of escape evacuated his head and nothing was left but the existance of that pain. He saw green light, then white light, then Paulina's continued screaming distracted him.

"Fly! Get us out of here!" He blindly gripped onto her waist and shot upwards. Their bodies dispersed into the midnight air.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I should be uploading weekly so I have time to finish this to a nice standard, but I couldn't wait to post more and got a nice book about editing that got me all excited. Let me know what you think! I'm always happy for feedback and criticism :).

Danny hurtled through rooftops, spires and satellite dishes, barely clearing them as fear drove him forward. Something wet was pooling between his eyelids and he didn't dare open his eyes to let in whatever it was. The pain felt like a blanket covering his face. He gripped Paulina to his chest and felt her cling back.

"You have to land!" she called above the wind. Her voice whistled into the vacuum before it reached his ears. He heard something but it reached him as a wordless mewl and, distracted by terror, it barely mattered to him. She grabbed his shoulders and yanked down, making him twist in midair and aim for the ground. Windows hurtled past them, thwipping one after another until Danny felt her cringe in his hold. "Stop!" He screeched to a halt and pulled up, stopping an inch from the ground. He heard her speak. "Are you okay? You look hurt."

Danny staggered back and tried to open his eyes but his eyelids refused to crack apart. Paulina shuffled out of his arms and he felt her drop to her feet, then take his hand and pull him down. He shook his head and avoided her touch like a flinching animal. "Whatever that guy did, it kills," he said as he brought his fist up.

"No don't touch it!" Paulina grabbed his hand and pulled it down. She reached forward and took Danny's face in her hands. He felt her thumbs brush at the corners of his eyes and tried to pull back, but she only tugged him back forward. Something soft- he assumed it was her sleeve- dabbed across his eyes and soaked up the liquid. "Stop fidgeting or I'll poke you." After everything that had just happened she sounded calm. "Can you open your eyes?"

He finally did, and Paulina could see the damage. The skin around his eyes had been seared in a long white streak by the fire. The wound covered his eyes like a ragged bandit mask and bit at his eyebrows, framing every expression. The blade beneath the fire had hacked at his nose and left a deep scar in its bridge. His eyes no longer held pupils. Or perhaps they did, but when the sword had hit him they had taken so much scarring and damage that they were now white orbs too opaque to use. She waved her fingers in front of his face and received no response. Ectoplasm was splattered across his face and no matter how many times she wiped it away he kept producing more. He waited in her hold, looking up at her like a trapped dog. Finally she spoke. "Can you see anything?"

"...No." Danny hesitated as logic caught up with him. Horror replaced dopamine, the pain was replaced with sickness, and he drew back. "Oh my God."

"Ghost Boy?"

Danny didn't know if ghosts could hyperventilate but he held a hand over his mouth anyway as he tried to think. He could feel the dread of what had just happened trickle down his back like slime. He spoke after a few bloated seconds, floating in midair as he gnawed his lip. Eyebrows knotted, he was on the verge of tears."Look, can you get home from here?"

"Sure, it's not far," Paulina said as she wiped green fluid off her hands. Danny felt her touch his wrist. "What about you?"

Paulina's fork tapped against her plate. Dash winced with every clink as he tried to eat his sandwich. She hadn't spoken all day and kept releasing long, pitiable sighs. He'd risen above it so far, familiar with her tactics, but it was finally too irritating to stand. He folded his arms around his bag lunch.

"Alright fine, what's up?"

"What?" she sighed deeply, selling the melodrama, "I was just thinking to myself, that's all."

"Mmhmm."

"But since you want to know so badly," she continued, "It's about the Ghost Boy."

"Mmhmm."

"He saved me from this really big, gross ghost man, but I think he's been seriously hurt. Do you think I should go and find him? Bring him some cookies to help him feel better?" Dash's attention finally zoned in.

"Seriously? He's hurt? I didn't even know you could hurt a ghost."

"Uh, duh, yes you can. That's how he defends us in the first place- are you even listening?"

Dash sank back down and glanced about the cafeteria, searching for rescue again. The Ghost Boy was cool. Paulina's twittering on the subject was not. He heard another lovestruck sigh and groaned. "I can't believe how selfless he was. He was so brave, I don't even care that he can't see anymore."

Dash cursed at the way he'd been dragged back into the conversation, his interest piquing again. "What, like permanently?"

"I don't know- maybe? Do you think I should go and help him?"

"What're y-"

"Alright, if you say so." She set her knife and fork together on the plate. "After school I'll go and see if he needs someone to take care of him."

"Sure, okay whatever." He saw flaws in her plan but refused to raise them.

They were packing up to leave the cafeteria when a crowd of students ran screaming past. A green hue flushed down the corridor and three ghosts burst through the doors. They were inhuman spirits- part way between an octopus and some sort of carnivorous plant- and Paulina had seen them before. The Ghost Boy had torn them apart in seconds. Dash let out a yell of terror and joined the throng as sirens erupted one after another and the nearest ghost-hunting squad was called. Casper High had installed anti-ghost protocols a while ago. She followed the crowd to the designated ghost-attack zone and stood with her fellow classmates as Mr. Lancer ducked and checked them off a list. She kept her gaze on the sky while the current of students flowed around her.

The Fentons arrived with an arsenal as the students milled on the grass, trampling benches and road signs with their RV. The ghosts were only further enraged by the chaos and screeched as lasers shot in all directions. Completely misreading the threat level, the Fenton RV's power was increased and the beams blew holes into the side of the school building. The students threw themselves on the ground and scattered in all directions. Paulina rolled beneath a bench and gathered her hair over her shoulder to keep it away from the wads of chewing gum that lined the wood. Still no sign of the Ghost Boy.

"Don't worry, kids!" Maddie swung her head out of a side window and effected her mightiest voice. "These ghosts are no match for the Fenton Phantom-Phaser!" Presumably Jack thumped a button inside the cockpit because give more guns unfolded from the roof. Paulina ducked into the panicking crowd and disappeared.

"Ghost Boy?" She wandered through the quieter streets of Amity Park, hands cupped around her mouth. Strategy had never been her strong point. "Yoohoo? Ghost Boy? Where are you?"

She took a left down an alley, dodging trash cans and dumpsters. Normally she avoided these sorts of areas, but it seemed like the majority of ghost fighting went down in grimy and secret places. Taking in a deep breath, voice rising in frustration she called out again, "Ghost Boy!"

The air shifted at her side and dropped in temperature. Her skin erupted in goosebumps and she rubbed at her arm to make them subside. "It's okay," she continued, excitement rising, "There's nobody around. Are your eyes any better?" She heard his voice before he reappeared.

"Uh, no. I don't think this is a temporary deal." His body slowly solidified, limb by limb like the Cheshire Cat as he felt out where the obstacles were. His hand met a dumpster and he clambered up to sit in the rim. "You came looking for me?"

Danny had spent the night in his ghost form, flitting invisibly around the rooftops while trying to find a place to spend the night. He couldn't go home, he couldn't stay with friends, and after the first hour he'd gotten himself so turned around that he couldn't have found his way to any of these places even if he'd wanted to. It was a good thing Paulina's voice was so loud, because the sound of it had acted as a lighthouse. He looked straight ahead as she spoke, despite her standing to one side. "Sure- you've always looked out for me. You're like a guardia- didn't I tell you to stop touching it?!" Danny felt his hands get slapped away from his face and the suddenness of it made him yelp in fright and fall backwards into the trash. The noise rocketed off the sides of the alley and deafened the both of them. He clambered back out of the dumpster, clinging to the lip like a wet cat to the side of a bath.

"Oh my God! Paulina!"

Hearing her name said like that made her heart skip a beat. She tried not to giggle - she'd never spoken to him for so long and he seemed so human. Climbing up beside him, she put her hand on his knee. If Danny had blood in his ghost form he would have gone bright pink, but the feel of her physical presence helped to orient him and he brought himself up to sit again. "Okay okay, no more messing with it. How does it look?"

"It's actually not that bad," Paulina flicked his fringe away from his eyes and smiled at the way his nose twitched. The wound over his eyes had healed as much as it could and had turned white. "I think scars are sexy." She watched him cough in embarrassment, bring his wrist up to scratch at the scar, then stop himself and lower it down to his lap.

"Thanks," he smiled for the first time. "But sexy doesn't get rid of ghosts."

"Neither do Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," she said. Hearing his parents mentioned sent a kick of misery through his guts as all of his problems came back to the forefront of his mind. Paulina watched his face fall, the expression made more intense by the scar cutting into his eyebrows. "Don't worry though! There's no reason you can't fight ghosts again."

"Uh, there is kind of a little one."

Paulina smacked his shoulder, then quickly grabbed him around the waist to keep him from toppling back into the dumpster. "You just need come confidence!" Danny turned to look at her for the first time and raised an eyebrow at her. Gazing into his white eyes reminded her of old statues of Catholic saints. Realising her hand was still on his knee, she drew it back and took up his hand in both of hers. Danny's frown dropped away and revealed a more despairing and more honest expression. He was finally holding Paulina's hand and he couldn't even see her to enjoy it. He moved to snatch his hand away but completely stilled when she squeezed his fingers. "Are you staying anywhere right now?" her voice was soft.

"Uh, no..." his voice rose in question. "Not technically. Why?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Chapter 3! I have to say, trying to sum up the number of problems Danny now has is really hard and researching Paulina's house with a crappy internet connection is even harder. It's in, like, one episode (episode 2) but if I've gotten something wrong do let me know. I love to learn.

Also, thanks for the lovely messages so far! It really gives me motivation to keep posting :) and lights a warmth in my belly.

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Danny stayed out of sight and gripped onto Paulina's shoulder as she walked them home. Paulina's body burned through her cashmere jumper and scalded his palm, the difference in their temperature drawing energy into him. He was always aware of the strength of his hold, how much his fingers fidgeted and how close they were. During that fifteen minute walk, his world consisted of her heat, her perfume and the rustling of the quiet streets. He floated nearer to her, his cold form sucking in the warmth.

Paulina's vast townhouse took up the entire street. It had once been part of a terraced community but her father had bought up the whole block and transformed it into a sprawling warren of expensive furniture, antiques and children. The sounds of young boys screaming were coming from a room tucked somewhere in the belly of the mansion and an older, matronly voice scolded them. Paulina had led him around the back to stand in the manicured garden. It had once been a community park.

"Okay, Ghost Boy," she broke the silence. Her voice, with its heady and pouting accent, sounded amused. "My Mom's going to be home- can you fly us through my window?"

Danny became even more aware of the empty space surrounding him. "I have no idea." Paulina gleefully threw her arms around his neck and leaped into his arms, which sent him staggering forward with a disoriented splutter. He knew exactly where his hands were as he cupped her thighs.

"Okay, you wanna go up and then to the left- I'll steer."

"You'll what?"

"Just go!" her voice dropped as the sounds within her house grew louder. "Trust me!"

Danny flew straight up, vanishing them both and trying not to imagine crashing into something. He also did his best not to feel how pliable her body was- she was so limber that she oozed into his grip like a housecat. She was so warm. There was a yank at his collar and he jolted in the new direction. "Gah!"

"I'm three windows down. Would you mind easing up? You're gripping me too hard." She sounded amused again. He noticed how hard he had begun to cling to her and he didn't know whether this was out of fear or protectiveness but he only barely loosened his hold. She grabbed his collar once more and he braced himself as she yanked back on it, forcing him to a stop.  
"That really hurts, you know."

She writhed like an unwilling pet and fell from his arms. He heard the soles of her shoes hit solid ground. He only let himself become visible again once she promised him they were out of sight, at which point she took his hand and led him inside. The wide balcony that rimmed her room came as no surprise.

Her bedroom would have made a princess jealous. It was stuffed with lace, pink satin and mirrors, all carefully arranged to let the breeze through and give as much space as possible. Paulina turned around and saw the undisguised worry on the Ghost Boy's face as he stood in the centre, pinching at his fingers and waiting for any noise that could signal an intruder. Something nurturing in her sprang to life and she crossed the floor to cup his face in her hands. His skin was cool and as she brushed her thumbs over them she noticed that the scars were cooler. He jumped and opened his mouth to apologise, but she cooed over him. "Don't worry, we're fine- my family has a strict knocking policy." Danny nodded, then took a step away from her. She watched as he rubbed at the patch she had touched.

"Cool. Uh, thanks. I swear this is only for a night at the most." Danny had never felt more worthless or humiliated. He could feel the pity radiating from her.

"Don't be silly," Paulina said, perching on the edge of her four-poster bed, "This is an honour- you're a hero!" Those words were like a gunshot going off behind Danny's ear. He reeled around to the sound of her voice, trying not to raise his own but unable to keep the appall out of it.

"A hero?! Not anymore I'm not! Look at me!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me!" He heard Paulina stand right back up and took a step away. "I'm not letting you feel sorry for yourself just because of some stupid Viking ghost! You're the Ghost Boy!"

Danny had become an expert at detecting disappointment in people's voices. For a long time his family had responded to his grades, achievements and personality with affection but an undeniable air of disappointment. They were geniuses, athletes (or at least his mother was- Jack insisted he would have been if not for the fudge), and Jaz had continued that legacy. As Jack had often said; she had always been his favourite. He had never been able to keep up and hadn't tried to since he was in elementary school. That same disappointment had rumbled through psychologists, school faculty, then through his friends. People who appreciated him for who he was and what he did but could never quite say he had never let them down. They always expected just a little more than he could give. They always expected something just a little too close to perfection. There was no disappointment in Paulina's voice. He had never realised how empowering her crush on 'the Ghost Boy' had been, and to know he hadn't lost that filled him with a new foundation.

"Why are you smiling?" She asked. He loved the sound of her.

"What's the plan?"

He heard her shuffle back onto her bed and lifted his feet up to sit cross-legged in midair. "I'm not sure," she said, her anger evaporating, "but we'll think of something, even if I have to give you directions the entire time." Paulina liked the thought of being useful to the Ghost Boy. "You're not giving up- I'm not having you weenie out." Despite everything a bark of laughter escaped Danny's chest.

"What?"

"You're not giving up," she repeated, moving on. "Besides, if everyone thinks you're a loser they'll all think I have a bad taste in boys." The bluntness of her admission, though he already knew it, knocked Danny off guard. With a stammer he replied,

"G-good point."

"Come and sit next to me," Paulina continued, her voice remaining gentle. Fear flushed through Danny's body, but he floated over to her and felt his way down to the mattress. Paulina's dainty hands guided him to sit beside her. She put her arm around his waist and Danny didn't dare breathe. He felt impotent next to her, staring forward with featureless eyes. Her perfume was mature and spicy, definitely expensive, but it was faint. It mingled with the smell of her laundry detergent and bathed her in a flowery scent that rubbed off on him and made his chest pound. "Do you know the Fentons?" That snapped him straight back to reality.

"Uh, kind of?"

Paulina watched him carefully. She could feel the angle of the Ghost Boy's hipbones under her fingers and she was afraid of moving now that she had placed herself so close. She couldn't make a move now, she knew he was likely to attribute anything she did to pity. Instead she snuggled up without giving him enough of a reason to move away. The way he emoted- his twisting looks of anger, worry and humour- was so powerful. He used his jaw and the muscles in his throat more than other boys she knew. He was as mercurial as she was- he could snap into rage and flip around to fear or laughter in a moment. He was insecure. She was too. She noticed that her own face had come closer to his and was inches from his cheek. He could tell, he was holding his breath. She drew back and giggled. "You're funny, Ghost Boy."

"Uh-huh," he squeaked.

"I was just going to say that they make all kinds of weird stuff- maybe there's something there that could fix you?" He shook his head and turned to face her. Without body temperature, breath or a heartbeat there were no signs of how shy he felt, for which he silently thanked the heavens.

"Nothing springs to mind. I could have a look- they have radars and stuff, but you still need to see 'em to read 'em."

Paulina hummed. "Until you can steal something I guess I'll be your eyes. Do you wanna stay over? You can sleep in my closet." Danny laughed again.

"Seriously, I know I'm a ghost but living in your wardrobe?"Paulina smiled and stood up, taking the Ghost Boy by the shoulders and leading him to a door out of her room. She opened it and pushed him inside.

"It's not a wardrobe."

Her walk-in closet was more like a clothing boutique. It was twenty feet from end to end and filled with racks of dresses, tops, jeans, shoes and more jewelery than an Egyptian queen. It took Danny far too long to walk from beginning to end and as he felt around, meeting nothing but more fabric, he marveled at how many outfits a girl who wore the same thing every day had. "Jesus!"

"I'll get you a bedroll. Don't worry- nobody's allowed in here. Except you, now."

From somewhere in the depths of the mansion a bell rang for supper. She jumped up and dashed to the door. "Hold on for an hour, okay? I'll bring you up some leftovers, unless you want to get takeout?"

"Leftovers?" Danny grinned again, "I guess that'll be cool."

He heard the door shut, then fell back to recline in the air. He had to let his world resettle. It felt like everything real had been cut away from him, leaving him in a dark, imaginary world. Without her around all the humour he'd managed to generate left him. As his good mood drew away with her footsteps his confidence disappeared and he floated down to hit the floor. Sat on the carpet he realised how pathetic this was. How pathetic this must look to Paulina. How his life was over, and how despite her determination he was doomed to failure. He had lost the war against the ghosts- one battle was all it would take to go out with a whimper. As he hugged his knees he hoped she'd come back soon.

And if she did? He'd never be Danny again. He remembered his previous fears of secrecy, how it'd take one look at the matching scars and matching disability to see that Danny and the Ghost Boy were the same creature. This secret was impossible to keep. His parents would find out and he couldn't even imagine the number of emotions they'd feel but he knew he couldn't deal with it. Then the pitying words of his friends, of the school, of everyone- he'd be the sad story of a hero who couldn't handle it. He ran his fingers into his hair and dug his thumbs into the scars.

Paulina returned after dinner. He looked up to the sound of the door opening and heard her walk towards him. She ran a hand through his hair and sat down next to him. "You'll be okay. Once when I was younger I bleached my hair- it looked really bad, but I got used to it and learned how to coordinate the colours and eventually everything thought it looked really cute. So you see? People can adapt to anything." Danny shocked himself with his own laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: And chapter 4, where the romance part of the drama/romance starts. I have about four more chapters written at this point but they need serious editing. And then only four more to write after that :P it's a real odyssey.

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Danny was met with a scream the next morning, as he opened the closet door. "Get back in there! I'm not ready!"

"Uh..." Danny pointed to his eyes but was smacked by a cushion she had hurled across the room. "Gah!"

"That's not the point! Back!" He ducked behind the door again and waited. Sometimes Jaz took a while to get ready in the mornings as she hogged the bathroom and covered the countertops in coloured dust. Even Sam would spend at least twenty minutes putting on make-up in the mornings, grabbing at eyeshadow and mascara after a slumber party. This, however, was an entirely new level of alchemy. He heard clattering noises and the sounds of jars being popped open. It felt like he was trapped in that closet for hours as she smeared her face with lotions and tonics, pinned her hair back and drew over her eyes as hairpins stuck out from her teeth. He had given up on ever being released and was preparing to phase through the ceiling when he heard her call. "Okay! You can come out now!"

Danny floated into her room. He kept rolling his shoulder to force out the stiffness left by the bedroll, tucking his elbow close to his body to avoid knocking into imaginary obstacles. Her perfume was stronger than before and he could smell the fat of lipsticks, foundation and concealer. He heard rustling as she packed for school, which reminded him with a sick sinking in his stomach that he had to show up there at some point. If he missed too many days they'd phone his parents.

"Yoohoo, Earth to Ghost Boy?" He snapped around to the sound of Paulina's voice.

"Mm?"

"I said, what are you going to do while I'm at school?"

"I guess I'll tag along," he said, scratching his head, "Have a look around." He needed her to guide him there. He knew that his plan was just delaying the inevitable, but desperately clinging to the status quo was all the hope he had.

Danny separated from Paulina once they arrived. She had held his hand the whole way and now as he stood in a men's room cubicle he wiggled his fingers to try and get rid of the burning sensation she'd left there. He changed back to his human self and patted his hair over his eyes, shouldering his way out and shuffling into the corridor. From his locker he grabbed an old sports hoodie and threw it on, running his fingers over the seams to make sure it was the right way out and folding himself into it in an attempt to take up as little space as possible. If nobody looked at him too closely he could get away with this for maybe a day. Life was moving too fast to think up any longer-term plan than this. He was still kicking just to keep his head above water- he had barely thought about how to fix anything.

The sounds of the students babbled past him like a river and he stood against the current as an island. He trailed his fingers along the wall as he walked past, counting the steps in his head and trying to keep his mental map of the school firm. When a voice came too close he pushed himself to the side and always listened out for the squeaky, mid-puberty screech of Dash Baxter. He had underestimated how difficult this would be. Navigation was hard, but acting natural was even harder. He bent his head and stuffed his free hand in the front pocket of his jumper as the other hand kept a tight hold of the wall. He compressed into himself as much as he could and kept pulling his hood down, terrified that a flash of white skin would give him away. The lockers that rifled past under his hand rose and fell in waves as they gave way to the bare wall, to a fire extinguisher, to doors and water fountains. He began to get used to judging the distance of other people by their volume.

Paulina's laughter rang down the hall. His stomach clenched. She'd seen the Ghost Boy staggering around sightless and seeing Danny do the same thing might be all it took to ruin everything. Losing focus for that second disoriented him and their shoulders collided. The jolt was so sudden that he almost fell over, feeling the vibration shudder across his collarbones. He bumped around her and held up his hands in apology, head ducked. He got in response was an irritated snap. "Watch where you're going!"

When he finally made it to his first class he bumped his knee on a desk.

"Eyes open, Mister Fenton," their math teacher didn't even look up from the blackboard. Danny shuffled into his chair, heart pounding.

"Sorry ma'am!" He folded his arms on the desk and hoped she wouldn't notice that he had no bag, no textbooks and no pens. The students muttered to one another in an ocean of voices, passing notes and gossiping about everything other than him. He was surprised that the teacher hadn't called for silence - surely the class wasn't always this loud. He heard from a conversation behind him that the ghost attack on the school had left chasms in the grass and a chunk had been taken out of the woodworking block. A few disparaging comments about the Fentons crossed him, since they had caused the majority of the damage, but were counteracted by a few pining compliments for the Ghost Boy. He kept his head down until the bell rang, always ready for someone to look his way. Nobody did.

He walked straight into Dash at lunch. The bigger male didn't even move when Danny knocked into the back of him- it was like walking into a wall of beef. He staggered back two steps, then was swept into the air and bashed into the lockers by fists the size of footballs. "Damnit Fenton! Keep your hands to yourself!" Danny gripped Dash's hands with his own and tried to wriggle free. He could feel the metal lockers creaking back under the pressure. A cloud of perfume wafted into his face and he realised that Paulina had to be next to him. His toes curled when he heard her voice.

"Maybe if you got a haircut you wouldn't be such a klutz." He could see her in his mind's eye, standing there with her hip cocked and her arms folded with a sneer on her face. He struggled harder.

"Get off me!"

Dash shoved him again, pounding him into the rattling lockers. The movement sent his head back in a whiplash and flashed his hair out from his eyes.

Paulina saw the state of Danny's face, the long white scar covering his eyes and the gash over his nose. She leapt upon Dash with such suddenness that he squealed, dropping Danny and backing up. "Put him down!"

"Woah, what the hell are you doing?! Are you crazy?!" Dash rubbed at the back of his hand where Paulina's false nails had left scratches.

"Shoo! Leave him alone! Get out of here!" She stood in front of Danny and pushed him back into the lockers as he tried to slide away, pinning him just as effectively as Dash had. Glaring the bully down, she dominated the big man. After a few tense seconds he threw up his hands.

"Fine! If you wanna be the dweeb's best friend be my guest!" He trotted away with as much dignity as possible, ears bright pink. As Danny attempted to skulk to freedom Paulina turned, gripping his wrists and pulling him around the corner to the nearest supply closet.

"Uh, P-Paulina this isn't what it-"

"Don't worry, Ghost Boy- I got you."

Danny's insides were whipped into a frenzy. He didn't know whether he was happy to have an ally or so tired of everything changing that he just wanted to shut down. The door shut and the scent of cleaning bleach and dust hit him.

Paulina brought them both kneeling on the floor without bothering to turn on the light. She brought her fingertips to his cheeks and felt Danny flinch in just the same way as the Ghost Boy had. She shuffled up closer and squinted in the darkness at Danny's white eyes, her own flitting up and down the scar while checking for injuries. She could see that, underneath the clouds, there were two sightless blue rings and a greyed-out pupil. "Wow Danny, you're Inviso-Bill?"

"Personal space? And please just call me Danny," he sighed, growing tense. "This is dangerous, we shouldn't be in here."

"Don't be such a worrier," he heard her say, voice heavy with care and good humour, "Nobody's going to come in." Danny suddenly remembered a dozen fantasies of his and did his best not to gulp. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? That's pretty creepy of you."

"What?!" He frowned, making his nose crinkle and the gash at the bridge snarl like a wolf. Paulina saw it and felt a rush of attraction flow from her heart to her fingertips. "That was your idea! I didn't do any-" He was silenced by her forehead touching his. Her hair smelled of warm coconut.

"I was just kidding, Danny. Don't take everything so serious." She drew away from him. There were a few seconds of silence and then an intake of breath. "Oh my gosh. Everything suddenly makes so much sense! And... ohh... You can't go home like this, huh? Your parents would freak out." Danny nodded. The internal tornado died down as a tentative happiness crept in.

"You won't tell anyone?"

"No way!" she laughed, "I wouldn't do that to you. You're the Ghost Boy."

"You keep saying that," he grinned, feeling that friendship they'd had last night return. "And thanks."

"So who else knows?" Paulina asked as she wiggled into a cross-legged sit.

"Jaz, Sam and Tucker. Nobody else has any idea."

"Really? Hey, are you and Sam dating?" Danny was about to reply when he heard a door creak. He bolted upright in panic as Paulina spun around. A beam of light hit them both, then there was a weight on Danny's thighs and her warm, sticky lips hit his. A panicked yelp left him as he was assaulted by Paulina's perfume and the intimate smell of her skin. Her lips were soft and covered with lip gloss. They were so plush that he couldn't feel her teeth or any hardness through them, just flesh and the taste of watermelon.

"The Fault in Our Stars!" Mr. Lancer's voice hit him from somewhere in the distance but he was too drugged on her perfume to care. "This is a school, not the backseat of a car!"

Paulina pretended to be shocked and pressed Danny's head to her chest, hiding Danny's face and delighting his soul. Turning her head she gave Mr. Lancer a humiliated look. "Yes sir! Could you give us thirty seconds please?" The door slammed shut again and Danny was yanked upright. "You okay?" Danny could barely speak.

"Uh-huh... Was that Lancer?" His voice was all over the place. She giggled and pulled him to his feet.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This took way longer to edit than the other chapters, which I assume is because it's a whole lot of talking and delicious exposition. Let me know what you think! I love conversations.

Paulina and Danny left school together. Their fingers were locked together and she held his arm rigid, like the solid harness of a guide dog. Her hand was slim and soft, doused in hand cream and obsessive washings, and Danny curled his larger, stronger fingers around it. Her hand was warm, his was cold. He tried to ask her about the fake kiss but the thought of making their new friendship awkward choked the words in his throat. He needed this friendship; he wasn't going to risk losing it.

"There is this cute little cafe just down the street- they do the best tall soy frapuccino with mocha sprinkles you've ever had."

"I think it'd be the only tall soy frappucino with mocha sprinkles I've ever had," Danny said, letting her drag him around a railing. It was only a fifteen minute walk from Casper High but by the time they arrived Danny's dodging had become effortless. One tug from her and he drew aside, one push and he broke away to pass the obstacle before recombining with her again. His fingers would splay when they parted and she easily hooked back to him again.

By the time they made it through the cafe doors he was smiling. She squished up against him in the smaller space of the cafe and slipped a hand into his back pocket. He copied her, hoping his hand didn't move slow enough to be creepy or fast enough to seem desperate. Her hips swayed as she brought them to a table and Danny could feel every tilt of her pelvis run up his arm and press into his body. Every boy in Casper High knew the way she wiggled to class. They knew the careful way her feet trod an imaginary tightrope and sent her waist rocking back and forth. Now he was feeling it run through him. Her own diminuitive hand hooked against him as she maneouvered the two of them around tables and chairs.

"How do you take coffee?" she asked as they sat, Danny flapping at the chair a few times to find it.

"Black I guess?"

"Ooh, hardcore," she teased, swaying away to order and giving Danny a chance to reorganise his head. Every time he pulled on a thought it came knotted up with a thousand other worries, plans and terrifying futures. Soon everything would collapse forever, his life would unravel and he'd have to face every fear he'd ever harbored - he just wanted a window of joy between now and then. Their current relationship was nebulous but she wanted to be around him. That was enough. A cup thunked down in front of him and made him jolt upright. "You're so jumpy. Is it really that bad?"

"What, having no eyes?" He looked up to the sound of her voice and realised he was grinning again. "Yeah it's pretty bad."

"You have eyes," Paulina said as she sat down, "They just don't work. Why didn't you tell me you were the Ghost Boy before?" Danny folded over his coffee and fiddled with the rim.

"Again? It's kind of a big secret. Maybe if we'd hung out for more than a day I'd have said something, but..." He trailed off. Paulina nodded, then realised he wouldn't see the gesture and made an agreeable humming sound.

"I guess that makes sense. Your parents would be super mad, huh?"

"They're gonna be super mad anyway."

"_Dios mio_," she sighed. "It's so unfair! You didn't deserve all this stupid stuff happening to you!" The sound of her anger ignited a flame that had long been burning in Danny. His simmering, constant feeling of injustice and fury gained a new breath.

"Right? Out of all the people in this whole stupid town to deserve an axe to the face, I have got to be right at the bottom of the list! Why does this town have to be so freaking hard to take care of?!"

"You should hunt him down, Danny!" She said his name in such a prideful tone that his stomach did backflips. But regardless;

"How? I haven't even seen him since then- and have you forgotten the whole..." he waved his hand in front of his face, "Thing?" He blinked when he felt a poke to his forehead. Paulina had very strong nails.

"You got down the street fine. When we were holding hands nobody could tell that you were blind." Danny's head was tilted back as her finger pushed but his voice remained level.

"Okay, sure. So if that's all it takes to get rid of that gigantic, evil ghost I guess it's no problem. Let's forget about dodging, aiming and fighting."

Paulina cocked her head as she watched Danny talk, returning her extended hand to her coffee. Danny Fenton had aged five years in three hours. He wasn't a weasely coward or a good-for-nothing slacker as they had all been lead to believe. He was a silent martyr, a rock and a champion. Her insides clamped up with flutters as she imagined him being her champion. "You're such a downer, Danny," she said, stirring the complicated vegan frappucino with a straw, "Are you this negative with everyone?" She watched him splutter in disbelief a few times, then continued, "I'll be there. We'll work together."

Danny sighed and pretended to let her win. "Fine, okay."

"So how long has it been since your mom and dad last saw you?" Paulina asked.

"Two, three days now?"

"And they haven't phoned?"

Danny shrugged. "Ah, they're probably busy on some ghost-hunting tech or whatever. They think I'm over Tucker's so they won't bother to call for at least one more day."

"Really?" Paulina was shocked. "Papa calls every day I'm not home. He gets super worried if he's not sure where I am." Danny grinned and she wrinkled her nose in glee at how he did it. Whenever he smiled at her it was lopsided and cautious, the uneasy muscles dimpling one cheek and giving just a hint of sarcasm.

"Daddy's princess?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded in shameless agreement, "but you must be pretty important at home too, since you know so much about ghosts."

"You'd think, right? Uh, no, I don't talk about it much at home- Mom's pretty smart and I don't want to play with fire. Besides, Jaz has always been the favourite." She watched him deflate.

"That's not true!" Paulina sounded appauled. "Parents don't pick favourites-"

"My dad literally said it. I was there." He affected another grin. "It's not some big deal though."

"No big deal?!" He heard Paulina sit up and ducked his head, worried they'd cause a scene. "Ooh, if I could get my hands on him! But who cares what he thinks? He's just some-"

"Volume?" Danny stopped himself from looking around at the other cafe patrons. He heard her sit back down and mutter.

"Stupid man."

Danny smiled and nodded.

They stayed at the cafe for hours, chatting and laughing as they disassembled their own lives together. Danny had gotten so used to keeping secrets that he now noticed how hard it had become to pry anything out of him. Getting him to talk about his friends, his family or his deeper, darker feelings on them was like prying open an old door, but Paulina was so enthusiastic and nosy that he found new things falling out of his mouth and revealing themselves to her. It was scary and energising. He dared to say things he'd never had a place to expose before. That Sam was overbearing, Tucker annoying. That his parents and teachers never got him right, even before his transformation. That his life had a background radiation of other people's disappointment. Paulina listened and had very loud opinions, but they made him laugh and slowly offer equally loud agreements. He forgot about the other customers and shrieked with laughter alongside her, both of them spilling coffee as she gestured and he ducked away from any errant hands thwipping through the air.

Paulina, likewise, shared her own story. She spoke Spanish and had taken dance classes since she was seven. She didn't like other girls- she thought they were competition. She didn't like boys either because they never had anything in common. Her life revolved around attention and envy- she was competitive and vicious, disliking the boys who adored her for being foolish enough to adore her in the first place and disliking the girls for thinking they could beat her. She didn't much like herself either, but this was something Danny only picked up on because of some indefinable familiarity he had with her. There seemed to be some unspoken agreement between them- that neither of them could function without a second identity. She had the lashings of makeup she applied every morning, he had the Ghost Boy to hide in. Now they both knew why, and nothing had to be said.

"It's so annoying," she huffed, "But Dash is like the only boy who really likes what I like. That's why we hang out, you know?" She heard Danny grunt. "I know you have every reason to hate his guts, but he's just covering up like, a world of crazy. I never bothered to ask much." Apparently Paulina never bothered to ask much about anyone.

"I know he's just waiting for graduation day to end his life," Danny shrugged and tore off the corner of a napkin, "I don't care that much, really." There was a pause and he found himself growing nervous.

"You know Danny, you always finish talking about stuff by saying that you don't care. That everything's 'no big deal'."

"Really?" He cocked his head, smiling in confusion. "I do? I guess it's just stuff not worth bothering with. So things aren't perfect- nothing is."

"I think you're madder about it than you realise."

Danny sipped his coffee. "Okay, thank you Nurse."

Finally it was time to leave. The owners of the cafe slung the 'Closed' sign on the door and the two of them walked out hand-in-hand. They even dared to swing their arms together. Every twitch in Paulina's fingers, every slight shove and pull sent him effortlessly navigating the sidewalk, barely interrupted their conversation as Danny placed all his trust in Paulina.

"I don't know about you," Danny chuckled as he swerved around a fire hydrant, "But I'm pretty sure if I fail English, Lancer will kill me."

"He likes you," Paulina shook her head, "I think he's given up on me."

"What, Lancer? He doesn't give up on anyone. I'm not about to go buy him a "World's Greatest Teacher" mug or anything but he is seriously into teaching kids to read Cather in the Rye."

The roads were quiet as they strolled together. The air was still and the lights were just starting to ignite in people's windows. Danny didn't know where they were going and didn't want to care because the breeze was in his face and Paulina's thumb kept rubbing the back of his hand. She seemed content to lead the way and chirped merrily about the party she had been to last week (Dash had gotten himself drunkenly stuck up a chimney, which made him bawl with laughter). Somewhere in the distance the road creaked with the sound of a car. It wasn't fast or particularly close, but without breaking the conversation Danny pulled her closer to him without thinking, dragging her away from the threat. She stopped talking and let out a small noise of affection.

"See? You're getting there."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Okay, so this is a very long chapter and it's more action than fluff or drama. For that I am very sorry, but not to worry! The angst and romance will begin again with the next update. It's just that it's Paulina's time to shine and the both of them need to work out how to keep Danny a hero. Also, without spoiling anything, the man in the latter half of the chapter is nothing to be worried about if you're not big on OCs. He's not going to get in the way.

Sooo... yeah! Give it a read and don't worry if it's not what you came here for. Everything continues as it was with Chapter 7 :)

Paulina's father was thrilled that his daughter had brought home a blind man. "Danny! Wonderful to see you! How's school?" He swept them over the threshold. Danny found himself deposited onto the sofa and suddenly there was a hot cocoa in one hand and a plate of nachos on his lap. Paulina began to nibble at them.

"Uh, thanks!" he said as he searched for a place to put the mug down. The man was the total opposite of the frightening ogre he had met once before; even his voice had lost that guttural, threatening growl. He heard Paulina giggle and turned to her for an explanation.

She whispered to him,"I don't think he sees you as a threat."

"Oh please," he put his mug delicately on the arm of the couch, "Don't spare my feelings."

He felt Paulina's arms brush against his side as she rescued the mug and placed it on a table. Paulina's father had strong footsteps that he could feel as well as hear. The man strode through the living room and he heard an armchair creak as he hefted himself down. Danny himself sat up a little straighter. "You really outta wear dark glasses," her father said, "You don't just wander around with a scar that bad."

"Papi!" Paulina gasped as Danny patted his bangs down. "You can't just say that!"

"You were thinking it too?" Danny looked to her. "I haven't seen it! I don't know how bad it is!" Paulina placed her hands on his arms and he imagined that she had a look of political kindness on her face.

"It's fine. You look very handsome."

"Dark glasses," her father grunted again. "Dark glasses and a haircut'll do you right." Paulina pouted and Danny felt her stroke his shoulder.

"He's fine, aren't you? I don't think it looks bad- scars are se-" she eyed her father and modified her language, "A sign of experience."

"And how did it happen?" The man asked, nestling himself in a winged armchair and letting his barrel-chested body fill it completely. "Hope it's nothing I should be worried about." The growl appeared again and Danny jumped to respond.

"No way! It was- uh- Well-" The hand still resting on his shoulder gave him a sharp pinch that made his teeth clamp together. Paulina dived in.

"It was really sad. See, Danny and his loser friends were looking around that abandoned old warehouse Valerie's father used to run. Or... whatever it was he did." Danny turned to her and kept his expression as neutral as possible. He could only imagine how she had gotten so quick at lying. "There was an accident with some of those old machines and then this happened. You don't need to tell anyone - the school and his parents all know about it."

"Ah yeah," Paulina's father rubbed his jaw and Danny could hear the sandpaper noise. "I remember old Mr. Grey. Good man, shame about the liquidation."

"Weren't you meeting your helicopter man today, Papi?" Paulina smiled at him as she edged closer to Danny, pressing their thighs together. A sudden clap made Danny jump as Paulina's father leapt to his feet. "Damn, you're right! I promised Avery I'd plan out tomorrow's route." Danny turned to Paulina, eyebrow raised, for an explanation.

"Papi's chauffeur is picking him up tomorrow. He's funny."

The problem with being a pale-skinned human was how easy it was to blush. Danny and Paulina had a free period together, something he hadn't known about until that day, and were strolling to a store she was insisting they visit.

"When did you make up that story?" Danny asked as their fingers entwined. Feeling her tiny, slender fingers hooking between his made him feel powerful.

"What, about Valerie's dad and everything?" He heard her hum in thought, "I was just thinking about it in class - if we tell everyone the truth then they'll all know you're the Ghost Boy. I had a whole chart of excuses just in case." She reached into her satchel to bring it out, then slid it back in again when she remembered there wasn't much point. It was a sprawling, multi-coloured spreadsheet written in gel pen. She had swirly handwriting and dotted her 'i's with hearts.

"That's..." Danny stopped, smirking, "Really cool." They walked in ease for a few more moments until Danny opened his mouth again.

"So... about that kiss in the supply closet-"

A motorbike screamed over their heads, the wind behind it kicking up dust and streaming their hair out behind them. "Damnit, Johnny!" Danny barked and pulled Paulina to his hip. "We had a deal!" She was shocked by how firm his hold suddenly was and noted every taut muscle running up his arm. He heard Johnny's reverberating voice.

"Sorry pipsqueak but old habits, you know? I'm just a bad bo- Holy crap, Ghost Kid, what happened to you?"

Danny turned to Paulina, his face now stone cold. "We need to get somewhere private." She nodded and took his arm, dragging him down an alleyway. A few seconds and a flash of light later and the white-haired ghost boy erupted from it. "I'm not in the mood."

"No seriously, who did that to you?"

"I think I found your Mistvir guy. About yay high?" Danny always followed Johnny's voice, turning in midair to keep facing him. At the same time he was alert for Johnny's shadow and picked up every change in the wind that might indicate that the darker, silent spook was near.

"Yowch. I've never heard of a ghost busting someone up that bad."

"Seriously?"

"No kidding. That's evil - even I wouldn't do that. On the other hand..." Danny heard a snarl behind the shell of his left ear and froze up. Paulina's voice echoed from the street below.

"Danny! Right!"

He dodged right.

"No! My right!"

Shadow's claws tore through his clothing. He was sent hurtling though the air in a trail of green slime, then came blasting back, hands to his side as a sphere of energy grew between his palms. "A little direction would be helpful!"

"Shadow, attack!"

"He's under you!" Paulina called. Danny winced - shooting down meant blindly shooting a weapon into a crowded city. The sphere faded and Shadow barrelled into his stomach. He heaved as the ectoplasmic organs in him crippled.

"Paulina!" He roared, spiraling back in panic.

"Sorry Mister 'I Have a Ghost Sense' but I can't see invisible things any better than you can!"

Danny kept trying to fire bolts of energy towards Johnny, his shadow or his bike. He could never lay a hit, nothing ever landed close and at every opening Shadow would lunge for him. Getting turned around and beaten to Hell, Danny was getting frustrated and impatient. Danny's shots got bigger as his aim grew worse, hurling blasts of energy wherever he heard Johnny's voice as his gut churned with embarrassment. Paulina trotted along below, ducking the occasional errant chunk of debris. She called out directions that were at best useless and at worst completely misleading, trying to lead a blind man towards an invisible enemy. Eventually, after Danny had been turned around and flipped too many times to keep straight in her head, she had started holding her hands out in front of her and checking which one looked most like an 'L'.

"Oh my God, this is getting sad." Johnny leaned against the handlebars and watched his nemesis scrap with his shadow. "I haven't felt guilty in years. Decades, maybe." He gestured lazily. "Shadow, attack! Finish him off, okay? Just... not too hard."

The pity made Danny furious, but as he readied for the attack he heard Paulina gasp. It was shrill and staggered and before he could think things through he noticed that he'd ducked. He felt Shadow fly over his head and miss him by inches. He snapped around and shot a blast of energy, then smirked a broad, almost wicked smile as he heard it make contact and a screech erupted from the ghost. He heard Johnny yell in surprise. Feeling vindicated, if not victorious, Danny took this as a sign to retreat. He dashed away and snatched up Paulina, immediately phasing through the buildings nearby and disappearing from sight.

Paulina led them to the park as he dragged them through the city. His arms ached and his stomach muscles kept spasming, screaming at him for putting them through so much abuse. Finally Paulina hopped out of his arms and pushed him behind a tree, where he transformed back to his human self. He clasped his knees and let out a slow breath, then chuckled. "You're lousy at giving directions."

"Well you're lousy at taking them," Paulina replied and took Danny by the shoulders. She pulled him upright and let out a satisfied noise as she dusted down his shirt and straightened up his hair. He squirmed like a toddler but the attention was nice. "You were so brave. How did you know when to dodge?"

"The weird noises you make when you panic are way more accurate than your directions."

"It's not weird!"

"I'm not saying it was bad!" Danny held up his hands, grinning again. "But we've got to get better at working as a team if I'm ever going to hunt ghosts again." His final word withered to a squeak as Paulina crushed his ribs in a hug.

"Anything for my big, strong hero!" Danny emitted a few choking noises and nodded in an attempt to calm her down. He was still sore from the impressive beat-down he'd just received.

"I wish you had a ghost sense, but for now I guess we can make this work." He felt Paulina nod against his chest. As he calmed down he started to grow aware of her curves against his body again.

"I've always wanted to be a sidekick!"

"Aim-" Danny let out a horking noise as she squeezed him tight again. He rested his arms very, very nervously around her waist and hoped she wasn't aware of it. "Aiming high, huh?"

"A sidekick or a trophy wife. But I'm still a strong, independent woman. Oh!" She smacked him on the chest and sent him coughing. "I have an idea!"

Paulina's plan involved the nearby airbase, a small field some distance from Amity Park used by private contractors and businesses to house personal aircraft. Other than a hangar and a few strips of tarmac there wasn't much there, which meant Danny would be able to train without attracting spectators. He and Paulina were stood on the grass, him in ghost form, as they waited for the third member of their party.

"This still doesn't sound like a great idea," Danny drawled as he listened to the sky.

"Oh hush," she replied, pinching his suit and snapping it against his side, "You didn't come up with anything better."

Chugging helicopter blades dawned somewhere in the sky. It grew louder and louder as the machine grew closer, the chopping blades sounding just like a buzzsaw, until it overwhelmed their ears and almost blew them off their feet. Danny hooked his arm automatically around Paulina's waist to keep her still. The grass rippled in long waves as the blades came to rest, and once it came to a full stop Paulina broke from Danny and ran up to it with a squeal. She hopped up and down on the balls of her feet until the door opened. A cowboy boot came out first and Danny heard the clink of the spur.

Avery, the chauffeur of Paulina's father, was a tall, thin man who wore big brown sunglasses and a fleeced leather jacket. Danny could tell by his footsteps that he walked with a bow-legged swagger - not the immature, lunging swagger of the jocks at school but the masculine gait of an old cowboy. He spun a set of keys around his finger.

"Sure is a funny place to meet, Nina," he had a kind drawl. "Your Pops know about this?"

"You won't tell him?" She asked, thickening the pout in her voice.

"Nah. So what's this about Inviso- Bill?" Avery's glasses slid down his nose as he eyed Danny. He said nothing, showed no emotion. Apparently Inviso-Bill wasn't very threatening to him.

"You're taking this way too well," Danny pointed out.

"Eh, ghosts is a fact of life at this point. No point bein' shocked anymore."

Paulina pushed Avery back towards his chopper. "Go, go! Let's get started!"

The pair backed away as Avery readied the helicopter. It was a private vehicle, small and spherical, and there was a tied sheet bound up in the landing struts. Paulina drew her hair back into ponytail as the chopper blades began to whirl again. "Now don't shoot anything yet."

"Yeah," Danny nodded, "Wouldn't want to accidentally hurt the guy."

Paulina looked at him oddly. "What? No, if we break Papi's helicopter he'll ground me for a month."

Danny took off at her signal and followed the sound of the blades at a distance. When it came close the noise was deafening and filled up Danny's world. It was like being in the eye of a hurricane with chaos in every direction. It was so loud that everything else came to him distorted, like it came from beneath the water. Every time the sound grew louder he would draw back, not trusting such a calm pilot to be worried if Inviso-Bill got dragged into the turbine.

He heard a click cut through the thudding ambience. It sounded like a dog clicker, which was somewhat insulting, but he could tell that it came from where he had left Paulina. "Are you serious?!" He cried over the blades. "Dog training now?!" She shouted something back but he couldn't make out the words. He zipped down to her again. "What?" he asked, ears ringing.

"I said just follow it, okay? I'll lead you to the target. My mom uses this on her chihuahua and-"

"Don't even finish that sentence. Fine, okay."

Turning around to face the cacophony again, he flew back towards the blades. Paulina waved to Avery and he leaned out the cockpit to tug on a rope. The sheet tied below was loosed and it flew out into the wind as a great white flag. A big red X had been slathered in the centre. Danny heard the flopping noise of the heavy fabric and felt a new determination to make this work, even if he had to listen to Paulina's stupid clicker. She waved to Avery again and the real training began.

The helicopter dove for Danny. It was slow but the length of the blades was difficult to estimate. He heard a dozen short clicks and guessed that it was Paulina's panicked instruction to back away. Fleeing backwards he then heard her draw a trail of clicks in the air. He moved along with it, following her path, and felt the displaced wind of the chopper pass him. It missed his head by a few feet. The flapping sheet was close and he aimed a blast of energy towards it. The sound of sizzling thread could just be heard underneath the noise, like he'd caught the edge. "Keep going!" Paulina bellowed from the ground.

He dodged left and right, no longer confused by her topsie-turvy verbal directions. By following the movement of her hand through the air he didn't have to spend a split-second translating instructions. With Paulina directing his movement he could focus on listening for the enemy and trying to gather his aim. He shot a few more blasts and each time winged the sheet. Avery kept the helicopter lurching back and forth, changing the sheet's shape until Danny could follow its transformation through hearing alone. Paulina jumped about many feet below, screaming herself hoarse in competitiveness. "Go on, Danny!" Her cries were so loud that they were tearing up her voicebox, "Take it down! Kill him!"

Danny caught her words floating on the wind and laughed, then was cut short with a yelp as the blades drew too close. For the first time since his injury he found joy in flying, finding the freedom he'd first sought in it all those months ago. He flew down, brushed against the grass, then soared upwards in a huge loop. Paulina's clicker still made it to him, just barely, and guided him back down. He encircled the helicopter, listened out for the sheet, brought glowing energy into his palms, and rammed through the very centre of the X. The energy burned it away and he was left with nothing but a few scraps of white cloth. He heard Paulina erupt in joyful screaming.

His heart was hammering as he floated back beside Paulina. She ran beside him and grabbed his hands. "This is awesome!" Danny gasped, sounding awestruck, "We might be able to fight like this!" The success of her plan stunned him- he was starting to realise how crafty she was. She danced around, jumping up and down while still gripping onto his arms.

"We did it! I'm useful! We should celebrate!" Her hyperactivity was contagious and Danny found himself laughing along as the helicopter touched down at the other end of the short field.

"Got anything in mind, Nina?" he asked, teasing her with Avery's nickname.

Avery gave them both a salute as he sauntered up and Paulina flew to him to give him a big hug. The man gave her a polite pat on the back as his other hand popped a cigarette into his mouth. Danny began to thank him when his phone rang. Giving the air next to him a short nod instead, he floated away to bring it to his ear and noticed for the first time that he couldn't just look at the screen to find out who it was.

"Hi?"

"Danny!" Jack's voice. Danny scrunched up. "You've been over your friend's house for almost a week - your mother wants you home!" He sounded jolly. "Besides, the lab's a mess. I could really use a small pair of hands to get into some of the equipment- I'd ask Jazz but she mentioned something about wanting to play the violin... So! See you this evening!"

"Dad, wait!" He was met with the dial tone and snapped upright when he heard clattering footsteps. Paulina skidded to a halt in front of him and saw his earlier happiness disappear, replaced with a look of forlorn, defeated longing that made her own stomach tighten.

"Was that your dad?"

"Yeah." He jumped from the ground and turned to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" Paulina grabbed his wrist, making him yelp. "I'm going with you."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Payoff time! I find the Fentons ludicrously hard to keep IC but hopefully they're okay. Also, updates will probably slow down a tad now because I've caught up with my actually written chapters and now have to write more. If all goes according to plan we should end up with 12 in all, so we're more than halfway!

Thanks for reading :) I really appreciate all the reviews, favs and follows. It fills me with hope.

"Stop fidgeting." Danny felt Paulina peck at his fringe with her fingertips, setting it back and forth and trying to make it settle in a way that was attractive or concealing. He kept tugging on his fingers and looking about him, eyes wide and unseeing.

"You don't have to be here, you know. This is gonna be... intense." He had tried to drive her away a few times. No matter how much they had bonded these few days he was not ready for her to be present for this. Nobody wanted their crush to see their parents screaming. "Seriously. I can just come meet you at school tomorrow."

"Nope." She finally tucked some errant lock of hair behind his ear and pinched his nose. "I'm staying. You need someone with eyes to stay calm, right?" He grunted and took out his keys as Paulina watched him and tried not to smile. Feeling for the lock, he opened the door and stepped in.

The sounds of the kitchen washed over him the moment he crossed the threshold. Dishes, running water, the tapping of a screwdriver being jammed into some otherworldly mechanism that beeped wildly- the need to burst into tears bubbled up in his throat. He counted four footsteps.

"Jack," Maddie's voice came through first, "Did you do something to this? There's no way ectoplasmic energy can give off this much of a signal. The ghost would have to be larger than a city block."

"Uh, h-hi. Mom?"

"Hi Danny!" His mother called from over the table and he heard her set down the screwdriver. "I didn't know you were bringing home a friend. Are you guys hung-" Something clattered against the table. He heard a shriek, then two pairs of footsteps thundered towards him and he felt Paulina's arm draw in front of his chest. As he backed up his parents saw the look of fear cross his marred face. "What the hell happened?!" He could feel his father standing in front of him - a large wall of heat that radiated into his face and loomed over him.

"Long story. Look, I know this is huge-"

"You're damned right! Who did this?!" Jack's voice was filled with grief, loud and trembling. Danny did his best not to look completely blind as he tried to give them an explanation, but the way he couldn't meet their eyes and instead had to look in the approximate direction of their necks made his injury so much starker.

"Look it's-" Jack grabbed him in a vice by his shoulders and he went rigid. It took every ounce of his willpower not to turn intangible out of panic. "Dad!"

"Jack, calm down!" Maddie pried Jack off him and pulled Danny into a hug. "We'll call the police and take you to the hospital."

"No, really it's fine!"

"It is not fine!" Maddie's volume doubled.

"I don't need the hospital! There's nothing they could do!"

"I swear to God, Danny," Jack punched his fist, "We'll get whoever - or whatever- did this and put them away for a long time." Danny finally wrenched himself free and staggered back. He raised his hands in defence and tried to fight the rising lump in his chest.

"You can't call the police either. You can't because..." he wrestled for any lie that didn't involve ghosts. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, noise crackling out of his throat as every idea choked. Paulina stepped in.

"You can't call the police because it wasn't anyone's fault, Mr and Mrs Fenton! See..." Her voice moved around the room as she edged closer to both adults. He heard her stand very close to Jack. "Danny and his friends went out camping and there was a rockslide! You know, because of the... seasons changing?" Danny gawped at her, then shut his mouth and nodded vigorously. There was a pause, then a barrage of yelling.

"How could you be so irresponsible?!" Maddie screamed and he was yanked to her front again. She burst into tears, only crying harder when she felt her baby boy tense up in her hug. He desperately wanted to escape. All the emotions he wanted to express, and to allow his parents to express, were being hurriedly stuffed down so they didn't drive Paulina away.

"And who the heck are you?" Jack looked down at Paulina, gruffer than he really felt. She looked up at him and really understood how large the man was. Her own father was a strong, broad-shouldered man who took care of his health and exercised four times a week. This man was different- he was just a natural bear of a human being and she felt tiny in his shadow. She hoped Danny didn't come out of puberty swimming in his end of the gene pool.

"Um, my name's Paulina," she said in her cutest voice. "We go to school together."

Normally Jack would have interrogated her further on her relationship to his other two friends, her intentions and her interest in ghosts. Not this time. His massive form deflated.

"Thanks for taking care of him."

Danny and Paulina burst through the door of the emergency OP centre together. The huge moon had risen, lighting the metal base in silver glare. It refracted off the floor and bathed their feet in glowing light as their footsteps clunked against the aluminium. The moment the cool breeze hit Danny's face he felt free and stumbled forward to put some space between him and his overbearing home. He felt Paulina's fingers wrap around his elbow and looked to her. She sounded shaken. "I guess anyone's parents would be upset. Are you okay, Danny?" Again he heard the way her accent pinched at his name and couldn't help but smile, though this time it was a half-mad smile driven by post-fight endorphins and the sense of being the butt of some cosmic joke. He straightened up and nodded. She slipped her hand into his and they walked to the edge of the rooftop, accompanied by the tinny percussion of their steps. When Paulina got to the edge he felt her drag his hand down. They sat together and dangled their feet over the edge in unison.

"What'll happen when they see the Ghost Boy?" she asked.

"I guess they'll know what I've been doing." With a lopsided smile had added, "and then I guess I'll be moving back into your closet." Paulina bumped his shoulder.

"They love you- they wouldn't do that."

"Yeah, but try living around weapons specifically built to kill you. It has a way of making a guy insecure." He turned to her and Paulina looked into his dead eyes. After taking a deep breath he changed the subject. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"When we kissed..."

"The fake-out make-out?"

"Yeah," he felt himself droop, "That wasn't anything else, was it?" She giggled and his shoulders drew back again in hope.

"I don't know..." she sounded coy, "Do you want it to be? You haven't made any moves on me yet." He felt their arms touch as she eased towards him. He was hit with a deeper cloud of rich perfume and noticed the sensation of her skin against his. It had the smoothness of someone who moisturised everything - creamy and pliable and deliberately perfect. He held his breath and felt his heart erupt.

"U-uh, w-well that's because-" He gulped and Paulina saw how his Adam's apple clenched. It made her put a hand on his knee. That was all the signal Danny needed. He didn't lunge for her, as he might have done if he'd had eyes. Instead he touched her hand, then ran his fingers up her arm, her shoulder, then up to her neck until he found her face. He leaned forwards and took her lips at the first attempt. She threw her arms around him and from the back of her throat let out a squeal of delight. His mouth was thin and hard, she could feel the muscles hidden underneath his dorky clothes and she wondered how he could try to hard to go unnoticed. There was nothing about him worth hiding.

Their lips parted and Paulina's hands drew back to rest on his shoulders. "Oh my God, Danny," she giggled, teasingly accusative. He smirked and his eyebrow twitched upwards. Happiness had never filled him so completely.

He'd always liked Paulina because she was pretty. That affection had been unfulfilling and shallow, so it had been easy to forget about as he met other girls and fell for the little gold pieces inside each of them. He knew girls with so many other good qualities that she, with her mean streak and high-maintenance personality, couldn't compete with them. But that was why he liked her now. She was sarcastic, angry and insecure just like he was. She was also secretive, tenacious and infinitely loyal, just like he was. And she was still beautiful, and he could still tell. He laughed when she grabbed at him and smothered him in kisses. He could feel her lip gloss leave prints. He grabbed the belt loops of her jeans. Tightening his eyes shut he caught her lips again.

They lay together against the metal floor, Danny's arm around Paulina as she rested on his chest. There were black lines and smudges of pink on his white shirt, signs that she had been there a while and her makeup had rubbed off against him. She kept reminding herself not to panic because Danny couldn't see her smudged face. "Mmm, you're the best, boyfriend," she said as she nuzzled herself under his chin.

Danny stared straight up at the sky. He was pink-cheeked and engulfed with a rush of excitement every time she spoke. He stroked her hair and it bounced in waves against his fingers. "Thanks." He heard her giggle and couldn't help but laugh too, making her shake as his chest convulsed. She let out a shriek of laughter and pulled herself up to sit on his chest. He could easily take her weight and smirked up at her.

"So when do your friends get back?"

"Errr..." His smirk died away. He was going to have to live through another scene of panicking loved ones freaking out. "Like, four days? Why?"

"Just 'cause if Sam wasn't mad about the blindness thing, she's going to be really pissed off about this." Danny groaned.

"Why'd you have to bring that up? I was just starting to have fun."

"Don't worry!" He was acutely aware of her thighs clenching against his sides. "I have something to show you." He heard clattering noises as she pulled something out of a pocket. "Um, hang on." Dials zipped and switches flipped, but after one loud click the air erupted with manic beeping. Paulina yipped in shock and found the volume dial. Once they had quiet again she took Danny's hand and pressed the present into it. "I took it from your Dad. It's one of those ghost radars you told me about."

"Woah, wait what?" Danny propped himself up on his elbow and felt the contraption in his hand. He did recognise it- his parents had been working on this thing for a month. Although he couldn't see it, the screen displayed green dots of ectoplasmic energy, size corresponding to their power, whether or not they were visible. A ghost sense for humans. "You stole it?" He grinned at her. She primped her hair and shut her eyes.

"I'll give it back when he needs it more than we do."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I have to admit that I'm not Sam or Tucker's biggest fan, so this chapter was really tricky for me to get right. I've done my absolute best to keep them in character and give them as much benefit of the doubt as possible :( but I'm still sorry if I've not been fair! I'm writing the last chapter as we speak, which is pretty exciting :P especially since I'm not 100% sure how it'll end. Happily, though~

Danny spent the next week at Paulina's house. His parents needed time to adjust and he couldn't stand being coddled after he and Paulina had recovered so much of his independence already. To stay at home meant being 'helped' around the house and being spoken to in gentle tones, something that he no longer needed or wanted. He felt lighter now that they knew, but always had that niggling fear that they would soon regonise the Ghost Boy. Their situation was balanced and tense, waiting for the single catalyst that would bring everything down around them.

"Why don't you wear a mask?" Paulina asked as the two of them sat in her room. She tossed a rubber ball at him, clicked the clicker with a flick of her wrist in the right direction, and watched as Danny swiped it out of the air. "If it's good enough for Spiderman..."

"No thanks. It'd still be pretty obvious if you were always there helping Inviso-Bill navigate ." He tossed it back towards her voice.

"You're such a downer - nobody guessed before, even though you and the Ghost Boy have exactly the same face and haircut. I think its worth a try." Another throw, another click, and Danny caught the ball again. He smirked.

"You just like guys in costume."

It hadn't taken school long to realise that Danny couldn't see. For a few days the population of Casper High had been alight with rumors, gossip and an overwhelming torrent of pity - even talk of social services being called until teachers could be convinced that his wound had nothing to do with a malfunctioning Fenton device - but they didn't last long after his official entry into the popular clique. He was handed the welcome package, the frozen yoghurt stamp card, and Dash took on the role of 'public relations officer'. It was a role that mostly involved threatening people who held too loud of an opinion or asked an insensitive question. Neither boy was thrilled by this new dynamic but Paulina assured Danny that over time they would become best friends.

"Maybe in a few million years," he said as he dug into his free frozen yoghurt. Paulina had finally picked out some sunglasses that hid the worst of the injury, but he had the feeling he looked like an idiot in them. The school had ordered a few braille textbooks and they had made a half-hearted pact to learn the language at a later point.

"He's not that bad- just grumpy." Paulina wound a lock of her hair around her finger. "He's still taking care of all those talkative people for you."

"That's because you forced him to."

Paulina smiled, eyes closing in a sphynx-like, manipulative way. "He needs to hit people or he gets really moody. With you out of the loser clique he's lost his main creative outlet." Danny raised his eyebrow at her and she giggled, quickly leaning forward to dip her finger in the cup of yoghurt and lick it off.

"Hey! I earned that!"

Danny was sat in the Nasty Burger with Paulina, Dash, Star and Kwan when his cell went off. He didn't speak much around Paulina's friends - he was much too aware of Dash's dislike of him and following social cues had gotten harder when he couldn't see when people were about to open their mouths. Fortunately Paulina talked enough for two and he could wedge himself in the corner.

"Oops! 'Scuse me," he muttered and snatched it up to his ear. "Hi?"

"Hey! Where are you?" Am overwhelming sense of relief washed over Danny at hearing Sam's stable voice. As much as he didn't want further drama, he'd missed his best friends and the only normal, unchanging part of his life.

"How was the cult?"

"Awful. Tucker almost drank the kool-aid too."

"Figures. I'm at the Nasty Burger but I have some good news and some bad news. It's a long story."

"Uh, okay. See you!"

Sam and Tucker arrived after Danny had been goaded into conversation with the kids at the table. Even Dash had warmed up enough to engage in the topic after finishing off a hamburger - apparently a full Dash was a tolerable one. The conversation had turned to football and both Danny and Paulina, sitting with identical body language, were listening with feigned interest as the two other boys exchanged banter and confusing, contradictory explanations of the rules. Danny had scooted to the edge of the booth in an attempt to make the eventual meeting less awkward for all involved. Paulina gave Danny a soft elbow in the ribs. "Goth and geek at two o'clock."

"Try and be nice to them," he muttered before turning to face his friends.

Tucker looked glazed over but Sam seemed coherent. She pulled a confused, mocking expression when she saw who Danny was sitting with but came over without sparing the jocks at the table a glance. "Nice shades, Danny." She wasn't surprised to see him sitting with the popular kids again- they were easy to impress and it wasn't the first time he had manipulated himself into their group. "You wanna leave your new friends and come catch up?" Danny nodded and felt his grin grow more wary and uncomfortable. His stomach was dancing with nerves again, just like they had before meeting his parents. Both he and Paulina slid out of the booth.

"Sure," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and playing it as cool as possible. Paulina slid her arm through his and he felt her head on his shoulder. He had no idea why.

"Uh..." Sam glanced between Danny and Paulina, "Something I should know about?" Tucker smirked, blinking himself back to consciousness.

"You work fast, dude."

"Um..." Danny tried to imagine a gentle way to admit to their relationship, but Paulina saved him the trouble. She gave Sam a wicked grin.

"Danny's my boyfriend now." Danny could hear the venom in Sam's voice when she replied,

"I'm so happy for you both, but we still want to catch up with Danny alone."

He felt Paulina's head turn to look at him for a cue. Danny cleared his throat awkwardly and nodded to her. "It's fine. I'll catch you in a bit?" She sounded disappointed, but he could hear the cutesy pout in her voice that meant he wasn't in trouble.

"Okay, fine. Bye guys!" She gave Sam a mean little wave and withdrew herself from around Danny. Then she wiggled back to the booth and dived into the conversation again. He yelped when he felt Sam snatch his wrist and drag him to a free table.

"Woah! Sam, wait!"

He was deposited into a chair and heard Sam and Tucker take seats on the other side, the movement so sudden that for a few seconds he was totally disoriented. Tucker spoke first and Danny recognised the nervous attempt at humour. "Seriously, who's possessed her this time?"

"Very funny, Tuck. How was the weird cult?"

"Not nearly as weird as your sunglasses- you know only jerks wear shades indoors, right? Jerks and blind guys."

Danny paused as he raised his hand up to his sunglasses. The air between his fingers and the rims of the glasses felt too thick and he had to make effort to force his way through, heart thudding with panic again. He steadied himself for the inevitable loud shouting when he pulled them away. "Yeah... about that..." He heard two loud gasps.

"What happened?!"

Danny dove right into the explanation, feeling tiredness and tension pour out with every word. He had missed their support, the safe space they had always provided, and once he had begun he couldn't stop. Any time Sam or Tucker began to say something he steamrollered over them, oblivious to any attempts they made to interrupt. He covered the ghost attack that had so permenantly disabled him, the growing friendship he and Paulina had shared, the moment she had discovered his secret powers, the fight with Johnny- even their strange training session. He was breathless when he got to his parents and his mouth wobbled with a suppressed smile when it came to admit when Paulina and him had finally gotten together. That was a point he let himself dwell on, if just to press to his two friends that their relationship was genuine. He finally wound down and stopped once he reached the present day and felt nerves return. In the space between his finish and their reply they reinflated into his chest. It took a few seconds for them to consolidate everything he said. Suddenly there was a hand over his and he jumped, snatching it back.

"Woah! Danny, Jesus, calm down."

"Sorry." He set his hand back on the table. "So you guys are cool with all this?"

Tucker flapped his mouth soundlessly while Sam spoke. "Uh, no! Ghost-hunting was never supposed to hurt you like this!" Her voice was quavering.

"It's not so bad-"

"Yes it is! A ghost permenantly disabled you when you were able to see it! What do you think they're going to do to you now that you can't even do that?!" Danny's story had not been the calming, rational explanation he had hoped for. To them, he'd just broken a tragedy. Sam sounded on the verge of tears and Danny stuffed the shades back over his face. "I don't care how clever you and Paulina think you've been, this is way over your head!" Danny opened his mouth to interrupt but Sam continued. "What if you die next time?!" It was like she'd hit him. He felt the words punch him in the gut and his whole face morphed into an expression of deep hurt and anger.

"Hey! I managed so far, alright? And keep your voice down, huh?"

"You lost a fight against _Johnny_," Sam growled, "What happens when Vlad sees this? There's no way he doesn't already know, and when he decides to act on it you won't stand a chance!" Danny once again started to speak but she steamrollered on. "Or that other ghost! You never stuffed him back in the Ghost Zone, right? So he's still around! Ever think about that?"

"Yes!" Danny pushed into a hole between sentences and muscled out some own time to speak. "I have! Believe it or not I've been kind of preoccupied with those exact problems!"

"She has a point, dude," Tucker finally spoke, his voice irritatingly apologetic. "Don't worry though, we'll figure out something."

"I already have figured out something!"

"And it's stupid!" Sam snapped back. They were both on the point of yelling and only keeping the volume down for the sake of secrecy. "Let's just think about this as a team! We don't want anything worse to happen!"

Danny slammed his fist down on the table. The cutlery rattled and both of his friends drew back. "Damnit, shut up!" It dawned on him how unique Paulina's response had been, her utter and ironically blind faith in him had been much more special than he had originally assumed. "I'm okay!" The diner had gone quiet and he could sense people staring at him, but his anger acted as an anaesthetic and numbed him to everything outside of his tunnel vision. "And I'm handling this!"

"You sure are!" Sam's hands hit the table too. "You handled a sword right into your face!"

Danny could think of no reply but he knew he was right. His chest inflated and he let out a high-pitched growl of fury. There was a light set of fingers suddenly resting over his shoulder and he swallowed himself. He could smell Paulina's perfume.

"Danny's fine." Her hand drew around his shoulder to the other side of his neck. He felt himself be pulled to the side and into a kiss against his cheek. "I don't date losers." With a blink he looked up in the direction of her face and felt his anger settle down to a low grumble. He released a breath and relaxed.

"Right." He turned back to his two best friends. "Look, why don't we pick this up later?" He was trying to battle so much disappointment at how this had gone. He had expected them to believe in him so much more. "I have a... thing to do." Giving them the nicest smile he could bear to give them, needing them more than he wanted to admit, he stood up and took Paulina's hand. They still had that rigid, guiding grip. Tucker spoke quietly.

"Yeah dude, okay."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I'm going to preface this with more apologies for those who really like Sam and Tucker- I did my absolute best to be fair as possible :P don't take anything Danny says too seriously, he's just upset. Almost done now! There will be 11 chapters with an epilogue when this is done, unless the end runs on a bit and then the chapter count will end up a bit higher.

Feel free to leave a review or PM- I love meeting people who like the things I like xD

Paulina watched Danny grip the railing of her balcony, his knuckles white-hot and shaking. She tilted her head at his hunched back as a buzz of righteous, prideful attraction tightened in her stomach. "What is it, Danny?" She wanted to hear him shout and rage, she wanted to watch the patient, brooding boy ignite into something more powerful, savage and honest.

The sun was setting now, but the heat remained. As the light frayed due to the sharp angle, it refracted through dust particles and mist in the air, setting everything around them with a glow that was beautiful in one direction and painfully bright in another. She passed through the light, carving a hole in the beams, to set her hand on his shoulder. He was so tight. His throat convulsed in a gulp.

"It's fine."

"No," she spoke with goading, deliberate amusement, "you always say that. Come on, you can tell me." He shook his head.

"There's nothing to talk about. Now back off for a sec, could you?" She withdrew with a frown.

"Don't take it out on me!" she huffed, "It's not my fault your loser friends-"

"They're not losers!" Danny wheeled around. Without those sunglasses on she could see his white eyes again. The sun was behind him and cast his face in shadow, but his eyes stood out bright. They looked like white balls of fire, twinned to the one setting behind him. "They're just overprotective!"

"They're not overprotective, Danny!" Her own volume rose and his name left her throat hoarse. "They just don't believe in you!"

"It's the shock!"

"They always think about themselves!" Danny looked incredulously at her.

"What the hell are you talking about? They've always stuck by me."

Paulina felt her anger charge her up. Her fingers went numb and everything she wanted to say rolled out of her like the clip of a machine gun. "What about that time you went to Dash's party and left them for, like, four days? You told me about that! You didn't do anything wrong! Or what about the way Sam is always going on those stupid..." she waved her hand around for the right word, "Protests? And then you get picked on because of her ideas! And your other friend... whatever his name is..."

"Tucker?"

"Yeah! He's such a creep! Asking Star if she wanted mouth-to-mouth, what kind of guy just says that to someone?! And because you guys hang out everyone blames you too! They just keep on ruining any chance you have of being with anyone but them!"

Danny faltered as he took in and reorganised everything she said. No matter how much he wanted to protect his best friends, it was still nice to hear himself be so adamantly defended. "Okay, sure, but it's your friends who're bullying me! They can be as weird and overbearing as they want, they never shoved me in a locker!" Paulina's voice dropped and he could see her in his mind's eye cocking her hip to the side and raising a sassy eyebrow.

"Dash would respect you if he knew you were the Ghost Boy. You can't expect people to like you if you deliberately hide all your best qualities."

"That's no excuse."

"Sure, but I bet Sam and Tucker have done some crappy things to you too."

Danny glared at her and began to snap at her that they'd never do something like that. Then he remembered that time Tucker became Pharaoh, or the time he had wished for ghost powers out of jealousy. He'd done more damage then that Dash ever had. "Doesn't matter," he insisted, "They still liked me for who I was."

"That's because they're the only people who know who you are!" Paulina grew more and more frustrated. "But you try so hard- you deserve friends who don't want to punish you! People you can't disappoint!"

For a moment she thought he'd been shot. He tensed and his hand even hovered over his front like he was hiding a wound. His expression flipped from furious to heartbroken, then back to furious. This time, however, he was an ally.

"How... how hard would it be just once for Tucker to think about something other than himself?" She noticed with joy that his hands were shaking again. She nodded.

"Right?"

"He does sometimes, though," he deflated again and she frowned, "He's pulled his head out of his ass when it counted."

"Stop! Don't excuse it. Just shout." He looked up at her with a lopsided, confused smirk. He played along.

"I hate it when Sam forces her causes on me. I hate it when Tucker won't shut up about computers." He was obviously doing this to appease Paulina, smirking, but slowly his voice grew a bite as he forgot why he had started. "I hate it when both of them gang up on me because for some reason I'm the one that has to learn a moral lesson every other goddamn week. I hate the fact that after everything I've done, and everything I've done for them, I'm still the one who got his eyes ruined for life!" Paulina backed up a step. He was on a roll now and it was one of the most attractive things she'd ever seen. He was a being of wrath now, a stamping, snarling, screaming entity of fury and she had to keep reminding herself that she, of all people, was lucky enough to have him.

"I deserved better than this! I deserved friends who aren't so demanding! I deserved parents who didn't spend every waking moment inventing things that'll kill me! Why couldn't that stupid ghost have gotten someone else with his stupid sword?! It's not f-" He blinked when he suddenly felt Paulina's soft, sticky lips against his own. The heat that came off the top of his anger blew away. It was still there but the immediacy of it left. She drew away and cupped his jaw, holding him still so she could admire him. His sightless look of surprise made her giggle.

"I love you."

He went bright pink and opened his mouth with a crackle to respond. Then they both heard the screen door to her room open. Both snapped around. Paulina's father looked concerned and unamused.

"I heard yelling." The blunt statement was dangerous. Danny dove into a stammering explanation.

"Oh! Yeah, but we weren't arguing. Paulina and I were- uh-" He looked towards Paulina. She trotted over to her father and leaned against his trunk-like arms.

"We were agreeing very loudly. Don't worry, Papi, we're happy." Danny nodded quickly. Paulina's father wiggled his moustache in thought as he looked between them. Finally he nodded.

"Fine, but I've got my eye on you, Fenton. Dinner's in ten." The screen door shut and they burst into mutual sniggers.

"Oh my God, Danny, he really likes you." Her voice was thick with constrained laughter and gossip. Danny smirked.

"Yeah, he sounds seconds away from asking me on a date."

"No really! If he didn't like you he'd have thrown you over the balcony." She took Danny's hand and lead him over to the railing. They leaned over it side by side, Paulina gazing into the garden and Danny gazing into nothing. Their arms touched and she took his hand. "Whatever happens with your friends, you'll have me." It sounded like a gloat. Danny grinned again.

"Thanks. They'll be fine once they get a chance to get used to everything. I'll go see them tomorrow." He turned to her and kissed the bridge of her nose. She erupted in giggles again and threw her arms around his neck. Smothering him in a few kisses of her own, she kicked her heels into the air and let him take her weight. She lavished kisses on his scar before running a fingertip down his nose.

"Does it hurt?"

"No, not anymore. But the poking does- let's stop that now."

Paulina opened her mouth to respond when a shrill bleeping shot out of her back pocket.

"Ah!" She snatched up the machine that caused the noise- the radar she had stolen from the Fentons. It was flashing green and vibrating in her hand as it shrieked across the silent garden. She fiddled with the dials and tapped all the buttons. "How do you turn it off?!"

Danny snatched it from her. "Pass it here!" He ran his fingers up and down the instrument until he found the usual volume dial, then span it all the way down. They let out a mutual sigh of relief. He passed it back. "Weird. My ghost sense hasn't gone off. What's the range on that thing?" Paulina looked at the screen.

"I don't know. I think a couple of miles? Whatever it was, it has to be pretty far away- there's a really big dot on the screen but I don't think it's anywhere near us." She held up the screen to Danny's face, then frowned at her own force of habit and drew back again. "Don't go after it."

"We kind of have to."

"Dinner is in ten minutes! Fight after. It's not close, we still have time."


	10. Chapter 10

Sam and Tucker were sat in the Nasty Burger the next day. On Saturdays the diner was packed with teenagers but they had managed to muscle out a table. Sam had been looking at her fries for a few minutes in silence, mind buzzing over a thousand different reasons to be miserable. Tucker's loud chewing wasn't helping.

"Do you mind? Tuck, you sound like a camel." Tucker looked wounded, mouth stuffed full.

"A camel who had nothing but salt crackers and holy water for two weeks."

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been on holiday, went to visit the States, had fun in Florida, that kind of thing. But I'm still here and this fic is still alive :) one chapter left unless an epilogue happens too; thanks for sticking with me the whole way you guys. Anyway! On with it.

"That's a total over-exaggeration." Moving her fries into a small teepee and considering the structure for a few time-killing moments she finally sighed again and voiced everything. "What're we gonna do about Danny? I can't believe what happened. I mean, we were gone like two weeks!"

"Yeah, right?" Tucker pushed burger into his face. "It's like we're not kids anymore- ghost hunting suddenly got so serious. Think he'll be okay?"

Sam deflated. "I don't know... I mean, he has Paulina," the name was said with venom, "But she's not the sharpest tool. If she's the one with the plan Danny's probably doomed. And he can't ghost hunt anymore- one look at him in ghost form and everyone'll know it's Danny! This town isn't that stupid."

"Who's gonna stop the ghosts from taking over Amity Park?" Tucker asked, a fistful of fries poised at his mouth.

"I don't know, Tuck. Damnit, I believe in Danny- he could totally fight ghosts blindfolded- but..."

Danny shouldered his way into the diner alone. With fingertips outstretched he was able to avoid the tables and cheap furnishings. He could hear Sam's voice from across the restaurant and followed it, dodging people who were by this point kind enough to step out of the way. He rested a hand on the back of a free chair. "Uh, room for one more?" He heard Tucker muffle something affirmative and slid into the seat.

"Nice to see you again," Sam smiled. He did look adorable with sunglasses on. "Decided to slum it with the unpopular kids again?"

Danny smirked and waved his hand. "_Dios mio_, no. Paulina got stuck doing the dishes so I figured I'd come see you guys before we go take care of business."

"'Take care of business'?" Sam drawled, "What are you, in a Latino mob now?" Tucker giggled next to her.

"Nice. What kind of business?"

"There's a massive spike of ghost energy downtown," Danny thumbed in the direction of the district. "We've got to get down there as fast as we can."

"But Paulina's doing the dishes."

Danny shrugged. "If her Papi asks her to do something, she does it." He heard Sam groan and turned to her. She knocked over the teepee of fries.

"Can't you see what a bad idea this is? I bet there's some way for you to fight without your eyes but taking orders from Paulina is probably the dumbest one!" Danny frowned and Tucker looked in surprise as he reached out and pulled one of the disposable drinking cups towards him. He lifted it by the rim and gestured with it.

"In all fairness, Sam, you've not been here for like two weeks. We've figured something out and it works fine. Almost." He took a sip of Tucker's cola and made a face at it, then handed it back. "Eugh. Backwash."

"It took us years to learn how to fight ghosts!" Sam leaned forward and hisses, keeping the volume low. "How could she pick it up in two weeks?"

She watched a subtle change come over Danny. His head tilted and a dishonest smile tried to tug at the corners of his mouth- with a churning in her stomach she realised he must have picked it up from Paulina. "It took me years to learn how to fight ghosts. You guys toss a thermos in my direction sometimes. You guys are awesome at the mystery-solving thing, and Paulina sure isn't going to be taking your place when it comes to researching and identifying ghosts, but in the field you guys tend to scream and get kidnapped." His friends stared at him, open mouthed, but being unable to witness the response made him braver. "I've got this whole thing under control- you guys can believe in me." But he realised that he no longer needed them to.

"When did you turn into such a bitch, Danny?" Sam snatched the cola away from him and made him jump. "Paulina's contagious. We're here to help you! We just want to make sure you're okay!" Danny immediately shot back.

"So? Why does this have anything to do with you? I'm the one that can't see, I'm the one with the ghost powers, I'm the only one who actually has to sacrifice anything, so why the hell is what you want so important?!" Wave after wave of relief crashed over him as he voiced years of unknown frustration, finally voicing a sense of injustice he'd never been able to put into words before. Having only two rocks for so long had made him blind to an awful lot of imbalance.

"Where the hell has this come from?!" Sam was outraged. Danny felt the inappropriate need to laugh, not at their hurt feelings but at all that relief. He felt light enough to float through the ceiling.

"I have no idea, but it feels great. Look, I appreciate what you've always done for me, but right now you guys are just way out of line."

"We're just in shock."

"And that doesn't matter right now," Danny nodded firmly. "I'm in shock too, and in case you haven't noticed, it's kind of a bigger deal from where I'm sitting."

Danny's name was called across the diner. The crowd made a path for Paulina as she trotted through, a handbag lodged under her arm. "Danny? Has anyone- Oh! Found you!" Danny grinned at her, the widest smile she'd ever seen him pull.

"You finally break free?" he asked.

"Sure, I finished half an hour ago, but I had to make sure I didn't get dishwater hands so I put on a bunch of moisturising cream and-"

Danny grabbed her wrist and jumped to his feet. "Awesome! Let's go- we have a ghost to hunt." Paulina turned to his two friends, oblivious to the argument. She wiggled her fingers at them and gave them the nicest smile she could muster before linking their arms together and leading the both of them out. Tucker took one glance at Sam's face and edged across the bench.


End file.
